Sunday, 16 December 2012

Gingerbread lanterns...

Bonsoir mes belles,I have been busy making gingerbread, the mixture is now resting in the fridge and the plan is to start making biscuits tomorrow. For anyone that wants a change, I found a recipe for gingerbread lanterns......Makes 4 lanterns

with extra for small cookies

250g • 9oz brown sugar

250g • 9oz treacle

140g • 4¾ oz unsalted butter

500g • 18oz plain flour

zest of 1 orange, finely grated

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

ICING

250g • 9oz icing sugar

1 medium egg white

★
Place a pot with the brown sugar, treacle and butter on a medium heat.
Stir occasionally until the butter has melted. Leave to cool completely.★
In a separate bowl stir together the remaining ingredients. Stir in the
melted butter mixture. Use your hand to form the dough into a ball.
Leave to chill for 5 minutes.★ Preheat the oven to 160C fan
(180C/gas 4). Quarter the dough and roll out each piece between two
sheets of baking paper to 3mm • ⅛ in thick. From each piece cut out 5 x
10cm • 4in squares. In the middle of the squares stamp out a small star
or heart with a 3cm • 1¼ in cookie cutter (see tip). ★ Place the squares on baking paper-lined trays and bake for 12 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack – they will firm up. ★
Whisk together the icing sugar and egg white until thick enough to make
a good ‘cement’. Pour into a piping bag (or use a freezer bag and snip
off a small corner).★ Place one gingerbread square flat on a work
surface. Pipe icing along each edge and stick a square on each of the
sides. Pipe icing along the sides to join the squares together. Leave to
dry then put a tealight in the middle. TIP
Reroll the leftover dough and cut out small cookies. Poke a hole in the
top with a wooden skewer (if you wish to hang the biscuits up). Bake
for 8 minutes.